New “TEN°” binning from Osram Opto Semiconductors provides the basis for unprecedented color consistency for white LEDs which are used for example as single-LED light sources in spotlights and downlights. To achieve this the current standard CIE 1931 2° xy color space has been supplemented with CIE 2015 10° u‘v‘, recently developed by the International Commission on Illumination and implemented by Osram Opto Semiconductors as 10° binning. In the third generation of the Soleriq S 13, “TEN°“ will be available on the market as an additional feature from March 2016.

Standard 3 SDCM binning in the CIE 1931 2° xy color space. (Osram/LEDinside)

“TEN°“ is the name of the new white binning from Osram Opto Semiconductors. In contrast to the established CIE 1931 2° color space, the recently developed CIE 2015 10° corresponds much better to the physiological perception of color – hence 10° binning. This subject is of particular interest for achieving uniform illumination from spotlights and downlights in which individual white CoB LEDs are primarily used. This new binning will be used for the first time in the new generation of the Soleriq S 13 and will provide optimum color consistency in applications. “Obviously these Soleriq LEDs comply with current industry standards and continue to be completely compatible with existing white groupings. “TEN°“ binning is simply an additional property – and an extremely useful one”, said Alexander Wilm, Key Expert for General Lighting at Osram Opto Semiconductors.

“TEN°” binning in the 2015 10° u’v’ color space. (Osram/LEDinside)

If Soleriq LEDs that have been binned on the basis of these latest findings are installed for example in spotlights it will be much easier to avoid differences in light colors compared with products grouped according to the old CIE 1931 2° standard. This in turn means fewer process stages for luminaire manufacturers which would otherwise be necessary because of different white color impressions in the ultimate application.

The starting point for development activities at Osram Opto Semiconductors was that two LEDs with the exact same color coordinates in the CIE 1931 2° color space could still exhibit noticeably different white tones. One reason is that the small rods that are responsible for color perception in our eyes are not evenly distributed. This leads to different color perceptions even with LEDs in 1 SDCM binning with conventional metrics. This problem has been known and researched by scientists for many decades. However the results of their research have never been applied to general lighting. Osram Opto Semiconductors has now changed all that.